Growing Up Sexually
The Sexual Curriculum (Oct., 2002) [to Volume
II Index] [to Main
Index Page] [1]
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[IV] Janssen, D. F. (Oct., 2002). Growing
Up Sexually. Volume II: The Sexual Curriculum: The Manufacture and
Performance of Pre-Adult Sexualities. Interim Report. Amsterdam, The
Netherlands 8
[previous
chapter] [next
chapter] Preadult
Sexualities. Ethnohistorical
Materials for a Discourse Analysis "Soll ich von meiner Landessitte lassen?"[1] "I'm quite sure sexual preference is not determined by
nail polish or pantyhose, at least not before puberty"[2] Abstract: This chapter explores discourses associated with what
are identified as "typical" or "non-typical" [3] sexual developmental pathways. It is suggested
that the occurrence of these pathways is a function of curricular opportunities
and restrictions, and, tentatively, that cultural tolerance levels tend to take
these mechanisms into consideration in their attitudes. That is, tolerance for
(curricular) atypical patterns is a trade-off for abstinent parenthood.
Pedagogue's positioning follows discourses which for the purpose of this
article could be trichotomised as legitimising tolerant, restrictive and
stimulative attitudes. A mechanism is suggested that, on individual and subcultural
curricular levels alike, operationalisations of (e.g., partner-identified)
sexual behaviour categories represent an economy of possibilities and
probabilities, that loses hierarchical definition if and when cultural
environments take nonoperationaling positions. While cultural patterns may be
typified by an identical set of possibilities and probabilities, any "possible"
or "probable" act may still be subject to a specific explanation: frustration,
practice, indifference, hesitance, etc. This is suggested by a parallel
presentation of historical and ethnological examples. Contents [up]
8.1 Mapping Preadult Sexualities: Discursive
Pedagogisms 8.1.1
Tolerance Discourses: Dequalification, Decategorisation and Depedagogisation 8.1.2
Restriction Discourses: Conflicting Interests and Medicalisation 8.2 The Problem of Atypical Developmental Sexualities 8.2.1 Preadult Same-Sex Patterning 8.2.2 Preadult Age Structuring 8.2.2.1
Peripubescent Teleiophilia 8.2.3 Herders' Vice: Preadult Species Patterning 8.3 Cultural Positions toward Curricular Atypical
Sexualities 8.3.1 Developmental Non-Allosexuality 8.3.2 Developmental Non-Heterosexualities 8.3.3 Variant, Atypical and Paraphilic Sexual Identity
Trajectories 8.4 Cultures, Curricular Subcultures and Curicularised
Individuals 8.0
Introduction [up] [Contents]
Foucault described
the growing nineteenth century preoccupation with childhood sexuality as the
"pedagogization of children's sex", a process in which "parents, families,
educators, doctors, and eventually psychologists would have to take charge, in
a continuous way". This was an integral part of the politics of biopower that,
in Foucault's view, characterised new forms of power in the modem era. Biopower
involved, on the one hand, the marking out and disciplining of individuals to
conform to particular social exigencies (i.e., the process of normalisation);
and, on the other hand, the management or regulation of the life processes of
populations as a whole. The following paragraphs list various pedagogical positions
regarding preadult sexual behaviour. These were categorised in areas that
encompass heterosexual ("typical") and nonheterosexual ("atypical") behaviours. 8.1 Mapping Preadult
Sexualities: Discursive Pedagogisms [up] [Contents]
Drawing
from the ethnographic record, an operational classification can be made for
curricular discourses addressing the tolerance,
restriction or stimulation of sexual behaviour before puberty. These discoursive
entries, as derived from rather fragmentary communications, illustrate the curricular contextualisation of sexual
behaviour in diverse pedagogical (e.g., "developmental') spaces: the moral, the
medical, the supernatural, the sexual, the socioeconomic, the hierarchical, the
historical, and the generational. Departing from and expanding on Foucaultian
principles, it seems that parents utilise a given set of contextual
ramifications or discourses that are to justify a given level and direction of
intervention. These discourses add up to specific sexological spaces, having
their fundaments in "developmental" theories or axiomata. These "developmental"
theories (contexts, discourses) are then applied to children to redirect
occurring trajectorial tendencies to (contextualised) curricula, a process here
addressed as "curricularisation". 8.1.1 Tolerance Discourses: Dequalification, Decategorisation and Depedagogisation [up] [Contents] This
set of explanations dismisses and disqualifies prepubertal sexuality as a fully
relevant sexual/erotic category. This was discussed in §5.4.2 under the title of
"pseudolicense". The child is "excused" from social censure, an amnesty
informed by the postulate that his transgressions are not "really"
transgressive, which in turn is a function of wider social views on curricular
competence. Discursive elements include (with parenthetical examples
footnoted): (a) dismissal on the basis
of fertility criteria[4]
(Africa [Nuer[5],
Dogon[6],
Bantu[7]];
also Melanesia); (b) dismissal from magical
rebuttal (passive: Kikuyu[8]); (c) denial of conditional
requirements: (i) sophistication derived intention (Baja[9],
Bubi[10],
Gogo[11])
(cf. §6.1.4);
(ii) physical competence (Australia[12]);
(iii) biopsychological motivation (Australia[13],
Kwoma[14]); (d) dismissal on the basis
of moral responsibility criteria (Kaguru[15]); (e) decontextualisation
(Pangwe[16]),
also including (i) degenderisation (Bemba[17],
Ijo boys[18],
Paiela[19]),
and (ii) de-erotisation (Garos[20]); (f) biopsychological
inevitability (Baiga[21],
Muria[22]); (g) essentialist
naturalisation (U.S.[23]); (h) liberalism based on
generational continuity (Santals[24]). Discourses contain the power to impose the principles of
the construction of reality, thus placing limits on what is available for
people to think with. As becomes apparent from the Pangwe case,
discursive positions can be "complemented" or claimed by children in a quest
for retaining the privilege of childhood pseudolicence. 8.1.2 Restriction Discourses: Conflicting Interests and Medicalisation [up] [Contents] This
set of explanations identifies sexual behaviour as conflicting with concurrent
developmental curricula. The medical discourses (ai, aiii) have characterised
European history up until the later half of the 20th century. (a) anticipation of adverse
consequences (see chapter 11),
including (i) nosological, (ii) magical, and (iii) developmental
("Sambia"[25])
consequences; (b) pathofysiological
symptomatologising (paradoxia sexualis,
®§2.3); (c) social status
requirement (Bangwa)[26]; (d) social status
implications (Hopi)[27]. Thus, the restriction of sexual
behaviour was a process of curing or preventing diseases, or ensuring "normal"
developmental and growth processes; removing or alleviating symptoms; enforcing
a social hierarchy; enforcing an economic curriculum. 8.1.3 Stimulation Discourses [up] [Contents] In this set of explanations,
sexual behaviour is cultivated to fit into a prosexual curriculum. As argued in
chapter
11,
these discourses are alien to and incompatible with Occidental sexual
discourses, while typical for the traditional sub-Saharan African scene. (a) proof of heterosexual
competence: orientation, potency,
fertility (Bakongo[28],
Tutsi[29],
Burundi[30]); (b) poetic / developmental
concerns (magical and health; see chapter
11),
either (i) compelling and necessary
("Sambia" etc.), or (ii) facultative and
contributing (Gebusi[31]); (c) idiosyncratic
synchronisation according to complementation arguments (with marriage, see §7.2.12); (d) educational concerns
(Ila[32]). Thus, stimulating early
sexual contacts has served to remove uncertainties pertaining to future
facultas coeudi (erigendi) et generandi; enforce an essential self-educational
curriculum; ensure or contribute to growth processes; and facilitate a social
complementation agenda. 8.2 The Problem of Atypical
Developmental Sexualities [up] [Contents]
The ratios of auto- and allosexual, as well as of
hetero- and homosexual behaviours are frequently suggested to be associated
with socialisation strategies; but these archaic two dimensions of the
developmental "erotic" experience have received little ethnographic
consideration as such. The mentioned correlation appeals to the ideology that
the child, especially the adolescent boy, attempts to compensate for an
environmentally frustrated heterosexual curriculum by simulating coitus
manually, or by means of homosexual or zoosexual initiatives (cf. Morris)[33]. Gallup and Suarez (1983)[34] argued that "[m]any instances of homosexuality are derived from the
fact that heterosexual frustration is practically inevitable; consequently,
individual differences in the magnitude and extent of heterosexual frustration, along with differences in frustration tolerance, constitute the
primary aetiology of homosexuality". Theorists, however, commonly neglect
developmental issues, even when discussing developmental issues.
Anthropologically informed classifications of homosexuality such as that by
Murray (2000) and by Greenberg (1988) can only partially be applied to subadult
subcultures. This leaves the cross-cultural interpretation of developmental
(opposed to, according to culturally stereotyped principles, identity-mediated)
homosexualities. Using Carr's (1999:p7-8)[35] ideologies, these phenomena as such pose a problem to the essentialist
monosexual's idea of static temporality. Thus, essentialist monosexual cultures
will define any nonheterosexual preheterosexual activity as a frustrated
category of heterosexuality. In the following sections, fragmentary data from a
literature search are brought together to map a cross-cultural baseline for
nonheterosexual preheterosexualities. In this discussion, "pre-adult" connotes
premarital status; atypicality connotes any nonheterosexuality. 8.2.1 Preadult Same-Sex Patterning [up] [Contents] According to first-half 20th century psychologists,
the core identity conflict of adolescence, as Shimkin (1947:p305)[36] marked for the male Shoshone, would consist of "a constant battle
between social, homosexual society and private heterosexual intimacy". This
"phase" ideology has been substituted by the (largely ethnocentric) recognition
of the "homosexual adolescent" (along with the "prehomosexual child"), and the
dismissal of homo- versus heterosexual "play" behaviour as cultural explananda. To discuss the occurrence of nonheterosexual
encounters in terms of behaviour-specific differential socialisation strategies
appears fruitless. Statements on a differential parental attitude on hetero- vs
homosexual behaviour are rare (e.g., Alorese).
Whiting and Child (1953)[37] found specific indications on "homosexual" play socialisation only in
an unidentified small amount of societies. The SCCS measure of "attitude toward
homosexuality" of Broude and Greene (1976)[38] was not specified for life phase (cf. the "frequency" measure).
Informants may be biased in their reports on its occurrence[39]. And such studies as done by Whitham et al.[40] do not address either object choice specific socialisation or
nonprehomosexual curricula. Further, it appears that cultures emphasising male heterosexual development within a dual standard
mode are notoriously confronted with phase-bound homosexuality, typically
within a combined phase identified and age stratified format (Mexico acc.
Carrier; Morocco acc. Eppink). The ethnographic record provides a large number of
examples of nonincidental homosexual behaviour among and between adolescents
and preadolescents[41]. A most regular explanation offered for such contacts lies within the
area of heterosocial restrictions. Tessmann (1930)[42], for instance, gathered data on premarital intercourse prohibitions and
early homosexuality in 49 Peruan Indian tribes. His (nonquantitative) data
would suggest that the common prohibition and punishment of premenarchal coitus
is usually associated with early homosexual behaviour or, less common,
masturbation[43]. Pre-adult same-sex erotic alliances are described as
occurring with a considerable frequency, though their phase specificity and
substitutive function remain untested cross-culturally. Descriptive material exploring
prehomosexual[44] or nonprehomosexual[45] same-sex sexual behaviour is rarely geared toward an understanding of
construed and negotiated identities. There indeed seems to exist "bachelor's",
"boarding school"[46] and "boy scout" homosexualities in a range of societies. The timing of
"patterned" homosexual contacts seems variable: childhood (New Guinea, !Kung,
Pangwe), pre-adolescence (Ruanda, Burundi, Nyakyusa, Lau Fiji), adolescence
(Iraq, Kurds, Tutsi, Tikopia, Dahomey, Kaska, Yanomamö) and more or less obviously
institution-related (Marind Anim, East Bay, Mbuti). In some cases, contacts may
not appear to be strictly confined to such nominal periods (Wawihé, Masaai,
Kogi, Batak) or institutional curricularisation. Methodological limitations
compromise the understanding of these subcultural developmental
homosexualities. 8.2.2 Preadult Age Structuring [up] [Contents] A meta-analysis of 17 cultures that incorporated
homosexual "mentorship" affiliation found that being 'mentored' usually occurs in a military
setting and serves as a precursor to heterosexual marriage (Crapo, 1995)[47]. In addition to the male adult-adolescent stratified pattern, there
seems to be a less well documented parallel of same-sex
adolescent-preadolescent, and even preadolescent-younger preadolescent
patterning[48]. An age-graded pattern was noted in some cases of nonincidental
("structured"? "institutional"?) homosexual subcultures[49], and is a regularly encountered phenomenon in incidental contacts: "In homosexual encounters, a young child, usually
a boy, is not infrequently propositioned by an older boy […]" (Martinson[50]). Langfeldt[51] somehow arrives at the generalisation that "[p]robably in all cultures the older boy mounts the younger, and the
younger seems to accept the unilateral role pattern". In nineteenth-century English
boarding schools, small boys had to carry out tasks for larger boys, and
sexual services were frequently included among these tasks (Bullough and
Bullough, 1978; 1979)[52]. Green
and Masson (2002:p154-5)[53], in observing
instances of "normalized/ritualised" initiation ceremonies of a genital nature
in residential settings, mentioned girls "utilizing sexual age-related power
over younger ones". Hickson[54] suggests that reforming headmasters had a hidden agenda: the desire to
manage the sexuality of adolescent boys and prevent any manifestation of
homosexuality. In late 19th century South-African boarding "initiation into the
"under-life" of the reformatory could be through homosexual rape, while younger
boys were soon drafted into service, sexual and otherwise, for older boys".
Among the Tenetehara "[…] several small boys were seen in sex play using a
smaller boy of about five years of age "as the girl". This was considered
ridiculous and funny but not abnormal". Ceremonial and initiation-associated
use of "homosexuality" is also noted in selected cases within preadult settings[55]. The female
adolescent-preadolescent equivalent is not inexistent[56], though mentioned remarkably less frequent. This girlhood variety
stereotypically takes on a vertical orientation (mummies and babies,
mother-daughter, mentrix-protégée), inspired either on a genuine or entirely
role-enacted age difference; also, homosexual age disparate "crushes" (vide infra) are more reported for girls
than for boys. Collecting data on informal heterosexual age
patterning in a number of societies few conclusions can be drawn due to the
expected compromised quality of data. In a number of cases there is explicit
mentioning of subadult-subadult age disparate patterning[57], but these isolated observations cannot be regarded as representative.
Surprisingly, data on Western samples are incidental[58], a fact probably influenced be the contemporary focus on abuse
definitions rather than normative phenomena. Anecdotal material[59] suggests that these contacts have been common, and that approximately
equal-aged children may assume vertical role-playing, enacting veritable
initiation or seduction scenarios. The
peers play "teacher-pupil" rather than marriage. Concluding, little is known about the relationship
between age disparate contacts and erotic age orientation
development. One might hypothesise that a roughly equivalent initial plasticity
is typical in low-operationalising (non-legitimising) socialisation societies
for both age/phase dynamics and gender dynamics, the actualisation of
opportunities depending on the balance between vicarious communications on
taboo issues and negotiated internalisation of such morale. 8.2.2.1 Peripubescent Teleiophilia[60] [up] [Contents]
Leaving the discussion of data in support of this
statement to another occasion (see §III.8), peripubescent crushes (particularly in girlhood) are generally known
to be age stratified. Broderick conceptualised the crush as a "super-safe"
rehearsal, in contrast to the classroom sweetheart. Karniol (2001)[61] provided support for the contention that "feminine" male media stars
idolised by adolescent Israeli girls provide a "safe" target of romantic love
in the period of time before girls start dating and become sexually active, and
to practice "feeling norms" on safe love-objects. One may hypothesise that the female peri-pubescent
crush phenomenon is a culturally specific transitional reality that bridges the
desire for dyadic affiliation with the ambitions and anxieties of growing up.
The crush is a mental experiment either de-eroticised by the reality of
distance, or potentially and safely erotic by virtue of its impossibility. It
may represent a suspension at an intermediate stage between attraction and
attachment, when using an analogy of the development of a marital bond[62]. 8.2.3 Herders' Vice: Preadult Species Patterning [up] [Contents] In selected communities, animal copulation has been part of imitative and imaginative play.
This takes the forms of imitating animal-style copulation[63]
or frank zooerastic efforts[64].
Isolated on out-posts, herding boys may be more intimate with cattle than with
the opposite sex. Nomad and Nuer herdboys are seen to drink milk straight from
camel's udders[65], and young
boys are seen performing cunnilingus on cattle to stimulate mating[66].
Watching
animals is seen as an important means of the acquisition of coital technology
in rural areas as a rule[67],
where it may provide the sole concept of coitus (§10.2.4), a theme
traceable throughout Western literature pertaining to the (invariably
problematic) "sexology of the rural". Judging from a review of these early
animal contacts in western
literature[68], important
factors include opportunity, frustration, but also arousal. In most
ethnographic cases, authors are sure about the practice being the result of
rigid gender segregation in "critical" psychosexual periods. 8.3 Cultural Positions toward
Curricular Atypical Sexualities [up] [Contents]
8.3.1 Developmental Non-Allosexuality [up] [Contents] 8.3.1.1 Historical Spectrum [up] [Contents]
The curricularised conceptualisation of masturbation has
been a neglected issue in the wealth of historical interpretations[69].
Preliminary research suggests that 19th century authors gradually extended
condemnation of ejaculatory to orgasmic masturbation, thus from adolescent male
to female and child/infant masturbation.[70]
In the 20th century a phase-specific depathologisation was noted. By the
beginning of the 20th century it was generally known that "[i]n man at the age
of puberty the sexual emotion awakes powerfully, while active social life opens
before the young man with all its exigencies"[71].
Freud (1912)[72] described
three phases of masturbation, and pathologised persistence into adulthood[73].
Kraepelin (8th ed,1915:1917)[74]
also stated that healthy children give up masturbation when attaining greater
maturity [gröþerer Reife], while it tends to last in psychopaths. Stanley Hall
and Havelock Ellis mentioned masturbation in the light of adolescent
immaturity, a theme extending well into the 1960s. Freudian curricularisation
of masturbation was followed by most psychoanalysts well into the second half
of the 20th century, though with a variable degree of freedom and alterations[75].
Suggestive of an ideology that justifies at least curricular masturbation is
available through such expressions of "vorzeitige Masturbation" (Kronfeld,
1922:p239[76]; cf. Estape
& Correa, 1931)[77]
and erectio praecox (Stier). Thus masturbation was provided with various curricular meanings: a symptom and cause
of illness; inevitable play[78],
surely marginally sexual[79];
valuable or obligate learning; beneficial frustration management, etc. Today,
the phenomenon is decurricularised as a function of its being almost entirely
depathologised. The shifting attitude to atypical sexualities was largely
caused by an influx of pedagogical approaches. To Kläsi, the expression in
masturbation or attempts at coitus was not considered symptomatic in itself of Frühreife or psychopathy. Being caused
by external influences, it would be the sign of vivid curiosity, an inquiring
mind or a special capacity for fantasy. In fact, sexual love had everything to
do with multiple-facetted character development. By the early 1930s the reign
of biological aetiology of things early was largely replaced by the idea of rearing
children away from the bad (early) and into the opposite (see for example
Wexberg,
1932)[80].
For Moses (1922)[81],
the case of managing (not: labelling) child sex criminals was one located
within Sexualpädagogik and -heilpädagogik, and for Stahl (1930)[82]
most Earliness was a
moral-pedagogical issue, in both cause and management. Numeric data, too,
legitimised expressions that might fall subject to criticism without. Meirowsky[83],
on the basis of numeric material, agreed with Hermann Cohn, who was said to be
the first[84] to point
out the frequency of masturbation in German Grammar schools, on the normality
of early sexuality generally considered too-early. 8.3.1.2 Ethnographic Spectrum [up] [Contents]
An unambiguous
statement that nonheterosexual practices are phase-bound substitutes is
sometimes documented ethnographically[85],
but more often masturbation is seen as idiobiologically phase-bound, after which
the practice is thought to be "forgotten" (Alorese), lead to "difficulty"
because of interference with heterosexual interests (Bala), or to be "given up"
for unspecified reasons (India, Comanche), for reasons of heterosexual
development (Tenetehara) or for arguments idiosyncratically addressing
curricular themes (Kikuyu). Thus, there is a definite concept of why it should
be discontinued (rather than why it should occur), which may or may not
directly identify native teleological models. 8.3.2 Developmental Non-Heterosexualities [up] [Contents] The social constructionist perspective
holds that "the process of identity formation is a continual, two-way
interactive process between the individual and the social environment, and that
the meanings the individual gives to these factors influence the development of
self-constructs and identity"[86].
Exploring cross-cultural materials, it becomes clear that historians (e.g.,
Bullough and Bullough) and ethnographers (e.g., Herdt) have advocated
relativist positions in discussing the concept of "sexual identity" as based on
"sexual orientation". This becomes acutely problematic when discussing
developmental sexualities, given the methodological limitations on studying
both "sexual identities" and "sexual orientations" with preadolescents. Herdt[87]
recently argued for a biocultural theory in which cultures may "thwart the
emergence of developmental subjectivities of sexual attraction in late
childhood", as would be universally mediated by adrenarche, "through the use of
beliefs, taboos, rituals, and social gender roles". 8.3.2.1 Historical Spectrum [up] [Contents]
Rofes[88]
demonstrated how "contemporary constructions of homosexuality have become
entwined with modern conceptions of childhood". Both have traditionally been
formulated in curricular terms: this relates to the pervasive social phenomenon
of conjoining the sexually aberrant and sexually prenormal on the centercourt
of ethical chronology. As it appears, early 20th century developmental psychologists specifically
depathologised early "homosexuality" under the rationale of its representing a
temporary phase (Spurlock, 2002)[89].
Plant[90]
thus formulated: "Realizing that the ages from 15 to 21 represent, perhaps
particularly in boys, the greatest access of sexual hunger and that our
cultural development rarely allows for that time a satisfaction that is "legal"
or "moral", it seems trite that there must be a vast number of these disturbing
compensatory activities which are not of the slightest prognostic importance".
Transient sex relations and homosexual experiences in adolescence we discussed
in positive terms of "a social and cultural function in promoting
self-confidence and emancipation from parents, and artistic, scientific, and
cultural sublimations"[91].
It could be argued in 1947, that "[t]he
development of affections in the growing boy is traced to show that the
prepubertal homosexual phase is essential to the maturing of the adult
personality in that it makes possible the shift from the dependent heterosexual
affection for the mother to the protective heterosexual love for the mate.
Perhaps the commonest cause of fixation at the level of homosexual friendships
is the artificial prolongation beyond puberty of the homosexual group of
earlier years (e.g., boarding schools)"[92]. The substitution
analogy with masturbation is seen in the concept of Nothomosexualität. In general, homosexual charges against children
appeared very infrequently in the juvenile court[93]. During the
early 20th century, thus, the attribution of homosexual symptoms in preadult
life within a pathognomic framework was reconsidered and sociologised to
include cultural and situational arguments on drive frustration. Bab (1903)[94]
argued that the encouragement of delayed marriage and women's liberation were a
logical antecedent of homosexual male cultures. Homosexuality still continued
to represent a symptom of the individual rather than cultural situation, but
one analogous or alternative to definite neuroticism[95].
Anna Freud[96] suggested:
"In preadolescence and in adolescence […] homosexual episodes are
known to occur more or less regularly and to exist side by side with
heterosexual ones without being in themselves reliable prognostic factors",
although "regressive", "narcissistic", and "schizoid" in nature. The
transitory, perhaps "bisexual"[97],
adolescent condition was to be distinguished from the permanent[98],
yet still to be managed with care[99].
Above all, while homosexuality in an adult was a manifestation of "psychic
perversion", in an adolescent it would be "an episode arising from temporary
environmental influences"[100],
perhaps "triggered off […] at the particular time in the particular cultural
setting"[101]; at the
most, "a peculiarity of youth"[102],
that does not "[…] persist when rightly guided by experience and education in
the widest sense of these words"[103]. Tolerance for atypical sexualities developed parallel
to a cultural shift from negative to non-operationalisation, which in turn
paralleled shifting socio-economic situations. That is to say, a specific tolerant (or even expectant, or
normalising) attitude versus atypicality was associated with a preference for
general noninterference, and only because the atypical category did not in itself imply a potential interference
with the age graded system. This mechanism is further legitimised by the parallel
macro- and microhistorical development of cultural homophobia and objection to
paedophilia, possibly being based on a corrected cultural misdirection of
seduction anxieties; that is, the main objection to paedophilia is parental
homophobia, and the main objection to homosexuality has been its alleged
inherent paedo-erotic properties (recruitment theory). Still otherwise put, growing tolerance for homosexuality is
factually a loss of interest for the
phenomenon. 8.3.2.2 Ethnographic Spectrum [up] [Contents]
Filtering out ethnographers' interpretations of
phase-identified same-sex experiences, few observations are available for
justifying a detailed comparative sociology. Few authors have reviewed these
phenomena[104]. At times
premarital homoeroticism takes on an atmosphere of playfulness, such as among
the Barasana (Hugh-Jones) and Nambicuara (Lévi-Strauss); that is, it is
tolerated as such (cf. Johansson,
Murray). Pretty much the same pattern has been documented for the Trumaí,
Cayapá, Tukano, Yaruros (suspected), urban Bahia, Selk'nam and Kogi. Thus,
"homo-eroticism" may be tolerated (in any phase) by a reciprocal interplay of
(a) its ambiguous, pseudo-, semi- or quasi-erotic appearance[105],
emphasising unstructuredness or randomness (play) and nonerotic motives or
incentives (game); and of (b) its de-eroticised interpretation / definition by
elders. This process requires a congruent or negotiated agenda (de-labelling)
of defining and defined party. Reiss (1961)[106],
for instance, discusses adolescent male prostitutes protecting themselves and
being protected from self-definitions either as prostitutes or as homosexuals
by the joint avoidance of such labels (cf. Brongersma, 1987 [I]:163-71; Leahy,
1991:p41-5)[107]. The same
may be observed for the occurrence of curricular same-sex behaviours in
homophobic curricular subcultures. Under "antihomoerotic", constructionist
theories require a predefinitional appraisal, or a redefinition toward
nonstigmatised meanings[108]. African sexual morality, if anything,
traditionally focused on procreation rather than sexual identity or orientation
(Murray & Roscoe, 1998); thus, heterosexual marriage and homosexual
behaviour are not mutually exclusive (e.g., Guadio, 1995)[109].
Curricular age-matched homosexuality indeed used to be a frequent phenomenon. For the Tutsi,
homosexuality among the young warriors is a refined practice. The adults make
fun of these practices but they certainly condone them. As noted: "Parents will
take pleasure in seeing their son engage in sexual games with young girls, for
that proves that he is normal, and that he will be potent". This attitude may
lead to curricular preference of or tolerance for nonheterosexual allosexual
above nonallosexual practices[110].
The occupation is one of heterosexuality-informed definitions of masculinity[111],
a matter avoided by cultural frustration theories[112].
Among the Nyaskyusa the older men
dismiss homosexuality with the tolerant word "adolescence": "it is never
continued after marriage, and all except the feeble-minded get married sooner
or later". Indeed, later, because the
older men are polygynists so that the younger age group cannot marry (Wilson).
The same is noted for the (also polygynous) Ngonde (Wilson) and Dahomey
(Herskovitz). This tendency to "tolerate
the alternative" may generally be noted for societies practising sexual
segregation (e.g., Samburu)[113].
As Dogon elderly speculate: "It
would be very good if that [early homosexuality] were to exist among the Dogon.
Young people would not be distracted from their work by thoughts of amorous
adventures with girls; they could satisfy their sexual needs with their work
mates and then return to work". The occurrence
of curricular homosexuality is related to the awareness of its possibility.
Selected cases suggest that an early heterosexual focus renders adolescent
concepts of same-sex behaviours as alien, as out of the range of
possibilities: Among the Garos
(India), masturbation[114]
and homosexuality were said to be unknown, while "children are not known to
indulge in heterosexual intercourse or sexual play till they are physically
grown up"; that is, "[t]here is no taboo against [conjugal] sexual act with
girls who have yet to attain puberty" (Goswami
and Majumdar). Specifically, adolescents would amusedly argue it would be
"impracticable". Similarly, Mentawaian
(Indonesia) adolescents regard the concept "not as immoral, but as absurd"[115]. Concluding,
definitions concerning the nature, status and inherent "optional quality" of
behaviours positively operationalise or illegitimise given categories of erotic
communication. More interestingly, such
definitions are borne out of an interplay of agendas, and definitions may
influence the form of expression. 8.3.3 Variant, Atypical and Paraphilic Sexual Identity Trajectories: Academic Bias [up] [Contents] Most
studies inform on first same sex "attraction", first same sex "erotic fantasy",
first same sex sexual experience, first "homosexual awareness" ("realisation"),
first "self-labeling" as "homosexual", first "disclosure", and first gay /
lesbian "relationship". In the case of homosexuality, more of less comparable
monocultural studies have been performed for North American, European (German,
Dutch, Spanish), and South African samples. Studies that thus compare
"homosexuality"- to "heterosexuality"-bound trajectories are few. It is clear
that some milestones challenge such comparison (disclosure), and may
effectively demonstrate sociological mechanisms (awareness, self-labeling).
Particularly demonstrative of the influence of heteronormative peer pressure,
Sandfort and Van Zessen (1991)[116]
found that 47 percent of the 12- to 13-year-olds reported not knowing the
meaning of "homosexuality" and "bisexuality"; 6 percent of 18- to 19-year-olds
were ignorant on this subject. Slightly less than 1 percent of boys and girls
defined themselves as exclusively or predominantly "homosexual"; 1.3 percent of
boys and 0.8 percent of girls defined themselves as "bisexual"[117];
8 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls reported fantasies "of a homosexual
nature". Such fantasies produced uncertainty on self-definition in only a
minority; the youngest age group is most often uncertain on the subject of
self-definition (60 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds did not know how to
self-label within the given pseudo-trichotomy). Few suitable cross-cultural studies are
available for what would be "paraphilic" trajectories. From ethnography, we
learn next to nothing about the trajectorial peculiarities of psychiatricised
"sexual orientation"-like categories of behaviour patterns. Thing is, these
facts provide a methodological problem within any given clinical tradition, and
prove to be rare. In an attempt to trace the "cultural chronologies",
with a focus on what can be summarised by the onset problem, of a dozen
of so-addressed "paraphilias" (Moser[118] challenged
the classic concept of paraphilia as a unitary, discrete, and distinct entity)
in 19th through 20th century European/American literature[119],
one is struck with the degree of avoidance involved in the watershed
moral-academic performance. I will elaborate on this issue in an addendum to the current chapter. 8.4
Cultures, Curricular Subcultures
and Curicularised Individuals [up] [Contents]
Constructionist
explanations for theories of (curricular, curriculum identified) atypical sexualities
can be offered for three levels: (curricularising) cultures, (curricular)
subcultures and (curricularised) individuals. By no means pretending to offer a
substantial entry toward an integration of level-specific theories, a
legitimate hypothesis reads that within these levels, uniform principles are
operable providing meaning, substance, and identity to these phenomena. Further
data are required to examine whether they might contribute to the exploration
of similarities between adult homosexual and age-stratified sexual cultures and
the preadult experience of other alternatives to coitocentric heterosexuality.
These similarities are operationalised by the perspective that preadult age
strata commonly form sexual subcultures that may hypothetically respond along
the same lines to phase-bound frustration within their heterosexist
subeconomies. Leaving the matter for future exploration, it would be worthwhile
to examine cultural constructions of curricular homosexuality within the context of constructions that
address homosexuality outside a curriculum-identified meaning. 8.5 Concluding Arguments [up] [Contents]
A range of studies have examined "prehomosexual
same-sex" development within a milestone paradigm [bibliography];
this is not paralleled with insights on the development of erotic age
orientation, and for patterns later to be designated paraphilic (e.g.,
zooerasty). This limited study suggests that allosexual options (homosexuality
age disparate contacts, animal contacts) represent cross-culturally
stereotypical alternatives for blocked heterosexual pathways, particularly for
males, and in all phases of the
operationalised sexual curriculum. The parallelism between sexual
subcultures and individuals in this respect seems to be considered legitimate
only for those categories that are culturally disapproved. Furthermore,
nonheterosexual noncoital contacts before and even in puberty are presently normalised
culturally where formerly this was not done. This seems to be related to a
curricularising principle that holds that heterosexual coitus needs to be
delayed for medical, social curricular and/or remnant moral reasons, even in
times of relative permissiveness. It is also clear that cultural tolerance of
nonheterosexual allosexual categories are remarkably unspecific for life
phases, and that categories may function within a balanced antiparallelism
suggestive of a limited "amount" of such tolerance invested in any or all
candidate categories. It may also be a function of culture's given appraisal of
curricularisation efforts, increasingly blocking such categories that
jeopardise given curricula (age disparate contacts) as opposed to those that do
not (zooerasty), or do not unambiguously (homosexuality). Notes [up] [Contents]
[last updated] [1] Among the Bafia, Tessmann notes a stage of passive homosexuality with older
brothers, at age 5 or 6 onwards. Tessmann judged this second "stage" of
psychosexual development as a "Landessitte" (three other tribes are named in
this respect), and is not denied by the subjects in question: "Soll ich von
meiner Landessitte lassen?". [2]
O'Mara, P. (1998) The tenderness of boys, Mothering Jan/Febr 86:6 [3] For purposes of theoretical clarity,
any nonheteroerotic pattern is here identified as "atypical", as judged from
the (random) position that cultures universally assume heterosexual
developments of individuals, while any "atypical" pattern universally
represents a problem within this expectancy. [4]
Rachewiltz was to note that "[…] in Africa, before puberty, especially before
circumcision, the individual is sexually insignificant; he, or she, is incapable
of fecundation, and consequently without effect either magically or socially.
This explains children's freedom together, and the liberty an adult is allowed
with a pre-adolescent child, or a woman with an uncircumcised boy. Many of the
girls conceal their first menstruation, so as to enjoy their liberty a little
longer". [5]
" "What harm can they do? No babies will result!" " (MacDermott). [6] "Sexual intercourse is tried out even in
childhood. People say that this really does not matter because, of course,
there can be no offspring" (Parin et al.). [7]
"Bantu children, even before puberty, indulge in play at sexual intercourse;
but this is either connived at or looked upon with amusement and toleration by
adults, because it can have no social consequences" (Krige). [8]
Kikuyu girls got rid of their "initiation dirt" by intercourse with immature
and uninitiated boys (a heinous offence on the part of an initiated girl except
for this one purpose), who, not having reached the stage when sex was "socially
important", "would not suffer from the taint" (Lambert). [9] The Baja tend to regard children as
innocent (ignorant), probably much contrary to facts (Tessmann). [10]
African
Bubi regarded the child as innocent until age 7 (Tessmann). [11]
Among the Gogo, sexual play among children is condoned as "simply the result of
childish ignorance" (Rigby). [12]
"He's to young to have an erection", or "Why, that child has only a small vagina,
she won't be ready yet for a long time". [13] The Ooldea aboriginals believe that the 'di:dji'pulka
(age three or four to pubarche) has no sexual desires (Berndt and Berndt). [14] "A girl's menarche in itself removes
her from the status of child and puts her into a class of "sexy" persons,
children of either sex being considered both uninterested in sex and
uninteresting sexually" (Williamson). [15] Among the Kaguru (Tanzania), children
are "morally limited beings, and as such are excluded from full social, moral
affairs; they are not "innocent", but rather "incomplete social beings".
Moral responsibility is tied to adult
knowledge (usungu) and cleverness
ordinarily concealed (kufisa) that is
transmitted during intiation, and also informally through storytelling heard
before initiation ("Sexuality truly is the single most important factor lying
behind most Karugu stories"). [16]
Among the Pangwe, children's coitus is not "taken seriously" for they are
uninitiated: "Kinder […] sind Uneingeweihte, Gute, weil sie den
Geschlechtsverkehr nicht kennen und, wenn sie ihn vorzeitig kennen gelernt
haben, nicht wissen, daß es Sünde ist, was sie tun, es ja auch nicht wissen
können, weil sie eben nicht eingeweiht sind in die tiefen Zusammenhänge von
Geschlechtsverkehr, Leben und Tod" (Tessmann). Even teenagers up to their
twenties respond to the question of their having had coitus with a stereotyped
apology: "ich bin ein Kind, d. h. unschuldig, ich weiß nichts vom
Geschlechtsverkehr; er sicherte sich so das milde Urteil, mit dem wir
"Dummejungenstreiche" abtun". To put this in perspective, coital imitations
start at age 5, and with 8-9 years this family play is "schon nichts weiter als
ein zielbewußter Geschlechtsverkehr" still known as child's play. [17] Traditionally, Bemba children were
regarded as cold, that is as sexually neutral, "almost genderless" (Richards). [18]
Ijo parents (Nigeria) say they regard five- to eight-year-old children as
"relatively sexless". Yet boys play with their penises in public with impunity
while girls would be severely chastised if they touch their own genitals
(Leis). [19]
Adolescents by definition neither
copulate nor sexually reproduce. They are considered chaste and sterile, in
fact not really male or female, until they are married and become parents
(Biersack). [20] The Garos regard their children's
bestial experiments as "nonsexual imitation" and joke about it (Sinha). [21] Baiga parents laugh tolerantly in the
face of their children erotic games, arguing, "Sometimes we say, "Why do it
now? Wait a little". But the children grow excited, so what should they do?"
(Elwin). [22] Among the Muria Gonds, parents
"encourage all the sexual activities" that take place in the dormitories
entered from age two. The sexual drive is recognised in early life ("however
small you may be, as long as flesh becomes wood, you try to beat her with it"),
although it is minimalised: "Real happiness only comes when you are both
mature. Of course the kids do it, but without the falling of water there's
little pleasure. It is like eating a raw fruit. There is no sweetness in it. It
is like rice without salt" […]. To try to have a girl before she is mature is
as hard as for a pig to dig up roots. Sometimes he manages it; it gets the root
up and enjoys it. But it prefers its ordinary foods" (Elwin). [23] "[…] natural curiosity […] trust the
child's own sense of what kinds of sexual behavior are safe, healthy,
appropriate […] normal events in the maturation proces […] natural curiosity
[…] everybody goes through that, I would assume […] natural curiosity […]
normal […] normal […]". Berges, E. T. et
al. [The Study Group of New York] (1983) Children & Sex. The Parents Speak. New York: Facts on File,
p95-9 [24] The Santal elders "are amused and
tolerant of the sexual adventures of their children. They appear to object to
any attempt to correct them. They take the line that such adventures did them
little harm and that in any case youth is a time for freedom and experiment"
(Archer). [25]
"Boys would be polluted and their growth blocked by sexual play with girls […]"
(Herdt). Cf. Atlas Volume, paragr. Papua Semen Transactions [26] The Bangwa (Cameroon) place a taboo on
pre-nubile, or pre-adult, sexual intercourse, the criterion for this lying in
the concepts of "social" instead of "sexual" puberty, so that a youth of twenty
may be regarded as a "child", id est, unfit
for sexual intercourse (Brain). [27]
Both Hopi boys and girls are told that "[…] if they start acting as grown-ups
in sexual matters, their parents will cease to support them; i.e., sexual maturity
and economic responsibility go together" (Dennis). [28] As noted back in 1926, Bakongo parents "encouraged" their girls and boys in
their sex play long before puberty, "as it shows that they had proper desires,
and later in life they would bear children" (Weeks, Margold). [29]
"Parents will take pleasure in seeing their son engage in sexual games with
young girls, for that proves that he is normal, and that he will be potent". [30]
Masturbation is "almost obligatory": "a girl who does not masturbate becomes
everybody's laughing-stock, and acquires the reputation of not being able to
marry and procreate (Vincent). [31]
In contrast to the "Sambia", Gebusi did not say or imply that men had to be inseminated to reach adulthood;
"this was simply an erotic act that could help them in this regard" (Knauft). [32]
Ila-speaking
natives regard their children's very early sexual practices "as preparation and
training for what is man's and woman's chief business in life" (Smith and Dale,
Margold). [33]
Morris, D. (1967) The Naked Ape. 1986
ill. Dutch ed. Utrecht/Aartselaar: Bruna & Zn., p93 [34]
Gallup, G. G. & Suarez, S. D. (1983) Homosexuality as a by-product of
selection for optimal heterosexual strategies, Perspect Biol & Med 26,2:315-22`. Cf. Ellis, L. (1996) Theories
of homosexuality, in Savin-Williams, R. C. & Cohen, K. M. (Eds.) The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals:
Children to Adults. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, p11-34 [35]
Carr, C. L. (1999) Cognitive scripting and sexuual identification:
essentialism, anarchism, and constructionism, Symbolic Interaction 22,1:1-24 [36]
Shimkin, D. B. (1947) Childhood and
Development among the Wind River Shoshone. Berkeley, CA [etc.]: University
of California Press [37]
Whiting, J. & Child, I. (1953) Child
Training and Personality: A Cross-Cultural Study. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press [38]
Broude, G. J. & Greene, S. J. (1976) Cross-cultural codes on twenty sexual
attitudes and practices, Ethnology
5,4:409-29 [39]
Hamilton, (1981) Nature and Nurture:
Aboriginal Child-Rearing in North-Central Arnhem Land. Canberra: Humanities
Press. The author suggests that "[a]dults deny the occurrence of homosexual
play among the boys [ages 5-9] although they admit to heterosexual play between
children before they can "understand" ". [40]
Whitam, F. L. & Mathy, R. M. (1986) Male
Homosexuality in Four Societies. New York [etc.]: Praeger; Whitam, F. L
(1980) The prehomosexual male child in three societies: The United States,
Guatemala, Brazil, Arch Sex Behav
9:87-99 [41] E.g., Tschama, Marquesans (as opposed
to earlier days), Marind anim (also mentor system), Tanzania, Ruanda and
Burundi, Tutsi, Wawihé, Kaffa, !Kung, Pangwe, Bafia, Masai, Nyakyusa, Kurds,
Tikopia, Dahomey, Kaska, Lebanon, "Antler", Lau Fiji, "East Bay", Tahiti,
Mbuti, Samoa, Trumaí, Cayapá, Yanomamö, Yaruros, Kogi, Kgatla, Iraq, Morocco,
Batak, Ngonde, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nimar Bahalis, Samburu, Selk'nam [42] Tessmann, G. (1930) Die Indianer Nordost-Perus. Hamburg:
Friederichsen, De Gruyter & Co. [43]
Societies with no such prohibition (Koto,
p201; Bora, p278; Kandoschi, p291; Yagua, p470; and less clear, Mayoruna,
p375) reveal minimal homosexual play. An exception to this rule would be the Muinane (p336), in whom both occurs, and
the Auischiri (p483) as well as the Okáina (p557), for both of whom neither
practice is seen. [44] E.g., Jay, K. & Young, A. (1977/9) The Gay Report. New York: Summit Books.
Esp. p41-51, 83-104; Williams, T. (1984) Jongens
en Wat met Hen aan de Hand Is: Een Onderzoek naar Homo-Erotiek in de
Vriendschappen tussen Jongens [Dutch]. Amsterdam: [Ped. Acad.] Karthuizer; Fellows, W. (1996) Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men From the Rural Midwest. Madison, WI.:
University of Wisconson Press; Hart, J. (1995) My First Time: Gay Men Describe Their First Same-Sex Experience.
Boston: Alyson; Savin-Williams, R. C. (1993) Sex and Sexual Identity among Gay and Bisexual Gay Male Youths.
Unpublished manuscript ; Savin-Williams, R. C. (1997) "...And Then I Became Gay". Young Men's Stories. New York:
Routledge; Croghan, J. G. (2001) Mirrors of manhood: The formation of gay
identity, DAI-B 62(1-B):574. Based on a 1993 dissertation, Pacifica Graduate
Institute. For childhood experiences and discussions, see p305 et seq, 358 et
seq. [45]
Martinson (1973) op.cit., p38-41,
71-4, 93-6; Martinson, F. M. (1994) The Sexual Life of Children. Westport,
Conn: Bergin & Garvey, ch.4; Hite, Sh. (1981) The Hite Report on Male
Sexuality. New York: Knopf. 1982 Dutch transl., p62-9, 510-2; Hite, Sh.
(1994) The Hite Report on the Family:
Growing Up under Patriarchy. London: Bloomsbury. 1994 Dutch transl., p360-4 [46]
The Dutch gay library Homodok
(Amsterdam) currently lists 134 entities under the thesaurus term "kostschool"
(D., "boarding school"). [47]
Crapo, R. H. (1995) Factors in the Cross-Cultural Patterning of Male
Homosexuality: A Reappraisal of the Literature, Cross-Cultural Res 29,2:178-202. Also cited by Martz, E. E.
(Spring, 2000) Transgenerational
Intimacy– Developmental Friend or Foe? Research article, Cornell
University. Munroe et al. (1969)
earlier found nine such mentor systems. See Munroe, R. L., Whiting, J. &
Hally, D. (1969) Institutionalized male transvestitism and sex distinction, Am Anthropol 7:87-91 [48] Reviewed in full in preliminary drafts. [49] Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, Angola, Zaire, Tanzania,
India (acc. Dube); Bafia, Wahiwé, Nyakyusa, Yolngu, Kogi [50] Martinson, F. (1973) Infant and Child Sexuality: A Sociological
Perspective. Saint Peter MN: The Book Mark, p40 [51] Langfeldt, Th. (1981) Processes in
sexual development, in Constantine, L. & Martinson, F. (Eds.) Children and Sex: New Findings, New
Perspectives. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., p37-44, at p40 [52]
Bullough, V. & Bullough, B. (Sept, 1978) Nineteenth Century English Homosexual Teachers: The Up Front and Back
Stage Performance. Paper presented at Seventy-Third Annual Meeting of the
American Sociological Association (San Francisco, California, September 4-8,
1978); Bullough, V. & Bullough, B. (1979) Homosexuality in Nineteenth
Century English Public Schools, Int Rev
Modern Sociol 9,2:261-9 [53]
Green, L. & Masson, H. (2002) Adolescents Who Sexually Abuse and
Residential Accommodation: Issues of Risk and Vulnerability, Br J Social
Work 32,2:149-68 [54]
Hickson, A. (1995) The Poisoned Bowl: Sex, Repression and the Public School
System. London: Constable [55]
Walker, D. R. (1945) The Need of Sex
Education in Negro Schools, J Negro Educ 14,2:174-81,
at p178; Rajani, R. & Kudrati, M. (1996) The varieties of sexual experience
of the street children of Mwanza, Tanzania, in Zeidenstein, S. & Moore, K.
(Eds.) Learning about Sexuality: A
Practical Beginning. New York: International Women's Health Coalition,
p301-23. Based on the authors' (1994) The
Variety of Sexual Experience of Street Children in Mwanza and their
Implications on Sex Education/HIV Prevention Programs. Mwanza: Kuleana
Center for Children's Rights. Cf. Lockhart, C. (2002) Kunyenga, "real sex", and
survival: Assessing the risk of HIV infection among urban street boys in Tanzania,
Med Anthropol Quart 16,3:294-311 [56] Lau Fiji, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola,
Lesotho, Nimar Bahalis, "Antler", Venda, Bemba (?); and provisionally for girls
practising macronymphia mutually:
"Grand Lacs" peoples, Baushi, Bemba, Burundi, Dahomey, Kgatla, Shona, and
probably a number of other tribes. [57]
U.S., Finnish, Bosofo, Akha, Nyakyusa, Marinbata, Bakalta, Pedi, Seniang,
!Kung, Blood Indians Apache, Crow, Mohave, Ingalik, Maya, Puerto Rico, Haiti,
India, Akha/Meau [58] E.g., Ramsey, G. V. (1943) The sexual development of boys, Am J Psychol 56:217-33; Haugaard, J. & Tilly, Ch. (1988)
Characteristics predicting children's responses to sexual encounters with other
children, Child Abuse & Negl
12,2:209-18 [59]
E.g., Martinson (1973); Kronhausen & Kronhausen (1960) [60] Teleios,
Gr., adult. One may argue whether the term should focus on the physical
(teleios) or the social category ("horaiophilia"). [61] Karniol, R. (2001) Adolescent Females'
Idolization of Male Media Stars as a Transition into Sexuality, Sex Roles 44,1-2:61-77 [62]
Love, P. & Jan, T. (1999) Creating passion and intimacy, in Carlson, J.
& Sperry, L. (Eds.) The Intimate
Couple. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel, Inc., p55-65 [63] Goajiro, Amhara, Xhosa, Sweden, Baiga, Navajo, communal
California /U.S. (Yates; Ribal, p75) [64] Garos, Hopi, Indonesia, Tiwi, Madagascar, Kikuyu,
Tswana, Riffian, Masai, Galla, Kaffa, Tebu, Brazil, Paraguay, Morocco [65]
Pavitt, N. (1997) Turkana: Kenya's Nomads
of the Jade Sea. London: Harvill, p147; Akalu, A. (1985) Beyond Morals? Lund: Gleerup, p46 [66] Nomachi, A. K. (phot., 1989) The Nile. Hong Kong: Odyssey. 1990 Dutch
translation, Langs de Oevers van de Nijl,
p45 [67] To name some of the societies for which
this is explicitly suggested: Amhara, Toucouleur (Senegal), Xhosa, Tebu, Gusii,
Tanala, Shona, Tibet, rural Japan, Taiwan Hokkien, Akha, rural France, Highland
Scots, Inis Beag [Ireland], Denmark, Bonerate, Zuni, Western Apache, Hopi,
Siuai, Easter Island, Aitutaki, Paraguay, Yahgan, Puerto Rico, Yanoama,
Selk'nam (Fireland Island) [68]
References collected in a preparatory paper entitled Protoparaphilia: Negotiating the Lower Age Extremes of the Paraphilia
Construct. [69] E.g., Schetsche, M. & Schmidt, R.
B. (1996) Ein "dunkler Drang aus dem Leibe": Deutungen kindlicher Onanie seit
dem 18. Jahrhundert, Zeitschr f
Sexualforsch 9,1:1-22 [70]
Reviewed in preliminary draft. [71]
Marro, A. (1899) Influence of the puberal development upon the moral charcter
of children of both sexes, Am J Sociol 5,2:193-219,
at p214 [72] Freud, S. (1912) Beiträge zur
Onanie-Diskussion: Zur Einleitung und Schlußwort [XIV.]. Die Onanie. Vierzehn
Beiträge zu einer Diskussion der "Wiener Psychoanalytischen Vereinigung"
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Cf. Szasz, Th. (1970) The Manufacture of
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Kraepelin, E. von (1915) Psychiatrie.
8th ed. Leipzig : Barth [75] E.g., Premsela, B. (1940) Sexuologie in de Praktijk. Amsterdam:
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Kindes, in Weil, A. (Ed.) Sexualreform
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Estape & Correa (1931) A case of precocious masturbation, Arch Ped Uruguay 2:482 [78]
Bauer (1923), for instance, did not regard
masturbation as paradoxic, more as natural
play through natural curiosity,
to be influenced by education: when it occurred, external causes [oxyuriasis]
were to be held responsible and developments [including the ethnological] were
never "complete". More to the point however, we read: "Im allgemeinen verläuft
die erste Kindheit des Weibes asexuell, das heiþt, frei von allen sexuellen
Begierden und Wünschen, frei von jedem Verlangen nach dem gegenteiligen
Geschlecht". So the child behaves neither paradoxic nor sexual: it's just being
curious. [79] Prof. Dr. Albert Niemann (1920) does not agree, as so many, with the sexual
nature of early masturbation (and "Akme"): the "onanie-ähnliche" activities are
a "ganz asexueller Akt". Excessive or compulsive masturbation-like
manipulations [!] are no sexual anomalies, yet neurological ones. [80] Wexberg, E. (1932) Sorgenkinder. Leipzig: Hirzel [81]
Moses (1922) Konstitution und Erlebnis in der Sexualpsychologie und -pathologie
des Kindesalters, Ztschr f Sexualwiss 8,10:
305-19 [82] Stahl, H. (1930) Sexuelle Frühreife, in
Eszterházy, A. (Ed.) Das Lasterhafte
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Irrwege des Weibes. Vienna & Leipzig Verlag für
Kulturforschung, p27-36 [83]
Meirowsky, E. (1912) Geschlechtsleben der
Jugend, Schule und Elternhaus. 2nd ed. Leipzig, p2-16 [84]
See also Marro (Caratteri dei Deliquenti)
quoted by Havelock Ellis, who pointed out that early masturbation was rampant
among criminals. [85]
Homosexuality: e.g., Azande (age stratified), Trobrainders, Samoans; masturbation:
e.g., Tikopia, Ghana, Cashinahua [86]
Horowitz, J. L. & Newcomb, M. D. (2001) A multidimensional approach to
homosexual identity, J Homosex
42,2:1-19 [87]
Cf. preparatory chapter. [88]
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& Bisexual Identity 3,1:3-26 [89] Spurlock, J. C. (2002) From reassurance
to irrelevance: Adolescent psychology and homosexuality in America, Hist Psychol 5,1:38-51 [90] Plant, J. S. (1929) Some practical
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Jugend, Vierteljahrschr Jugendk
1:182-9 [92] Stanley-Jones, D. (1947) Sexual
inversion; an ethical study, Lancet
252:366-9 [93] Hennessey, M. A. R. (1941) Homosexual
charges against children, J Crim
Psychopathol 2:524-32 [94] Bab, E. (1903) Frauenbewegung und
mannliche Kultur, Der Eigene,
p393-407. Translated as (1991) The Women's Movement and Male Culture, J Homosex 22,1-2:135-44 [95] Ward, J. L. (1958) Homosexual behavior of the institutionalized
delinquent, Psychia Quart Suppl
32:301-14; Naiedman, E. (1950) Le scoutisme neutre feminin et quelques
problèmes de l'adolescence, Enfance
3:471-7. The author discusses several "life-styles"
resulting from the conflict between awakening libidinous tendencies and this
pre-pubertal self-imposed "sex neutrality": (1) passionate homosexual
friendship; (2) asceticism; (3) religiosity; and (4) neuroticism. [96]
Freud, A. (1965) Normality and Pathology
in Childhood. 1973 ed. Middlesex: Penguin, p160 [97]
Wilson, P. (1981) The Man They Called A
Monster. North Ryde: Cassell Australia, Ch.6 [98] E.g., Sprince, M. P. (1964) A
contribution to the study of homosexuality in adolescence, J Child Psychol 5,2:103-7 [99]
Niles, W. J. (1986) Managing episodic homosexual behavior of adolescents in
residential settings, Child Care Quart
15,1:15-26 [100] Klieneberger, O. (1931)
Kriminalpsychopathologie Jugendlicher, Jugendwohl
20 [101]
Harrison, S. I. & Klapman, H. J. (1966) Relationships between social forces
and homosexual behavior observed in a children's psychiatric hospital, Am J Acad Child Psychia 5,1:105-10 [102]
Stärcke. J. ([1936]) De Sexueele
Opvoeding onzer Jeugd. 7th ed. Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek. 1st ed. 1913.
"[...] meestal heeft men hier alleen te doen met een eigenaardigheid van de
ontwikkelingsjaren [...]" (p42). ["[…] this usually pertains to a peculiarity
of the developmental years"] [103]
Hollander, B. (1922) The Psychology of
Misconduct, Vice, and Crime. London: G. Allen & Unwin, p141 [104]
Werner (1998) describes this under the
heading of a "fourth type" according to "who has sex with whom in same-sex
relationships" tentatively labeled "the adolescent-sex system", and consisting
of "[…] homosexual relationships between adolescents but which disappear after
marriage. This system is found in many oceanic societies (Lau, Manus, Wogeo,
Ifugao, Marquesans, Tikopia), in some African societies (Ngonde, Hottentot,
Shona, Mongo), and in some South American societies (Nambikwara, Yanomamo,
Araucanians)". See Werner, D. (1998) Sobre a evolução e
variação cultural na homossexualidade masculina, in Pedro, J. M. & Grossi,
M. P. (Eds.) Masculino, Feminino Plural. Florianópolis: ed. Mulheres, p99-129. Cf. Werner, D.
(2000) Homosexuality and Hierarchy. Poster
for the International Behavioral Development Symposium Biological Basis of
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender-typical Behavior. Minot State
University, May 25-27 [105]
Among the Cubeo, similarly as among
the Kgatla (Botswana), public and "mildly
homoerotic" play of young boys is judged to represent "only a byplay in the
formal sexual life of the community". [106]
Reiss, A. J. Jr. (1961) The social integration of queers and peers, Social Problems 9:102-20 [107] Brongersma, E. (1987) Jongensliefde: Seks en Erotiek Tussen
Jongens en Mannen. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: SUA; Leahy, T. (1991) Negotiating
Stigma: Approaches to Intergenerational Sex. PhD thesis presented to the
University of New South Wales. Online ed., Books-Reborn. Leahy discusses how
homosexual implications are negotiated within male group and intergenerational
contexts. [108] "[…] due to the social distance between
the sexes, men also seek sexual fulfilment in relations with other men. Indian
culture is highly homosocial and displays of affection, body contact and the
sharing of beds between men is socially acceptable (Khan, 1994). This creates
opportunities for sexual contact, though sexual behaviour in this context is
rarely seen as real sex, but as play. Much of this same-sex sexual activity
begins during adolescence between school friends and within family environments
and is non-penetrative. Young men who cultivate such relationships do not
consider themselves to be `homosexual' but conceive their behaviour in terms of
sexual desire, opportunity and pleasure. They may go on to develop
relationships which involve penetrative sex. Again, however, such encounters
have limited relevance to the construction of their personal identities. Given
the constant expectation that a man will eventually marry and produce sons, he
can enter into same-sex sexual relations without challenging his masculine
sense of self". Asthana, Sh. & Oostvogels, R. (2001) The social
construction of male `homosexuality' in India: implications for HIV
transmission and prevention, Soc Sci
& Med 52,5:707-21 [109] Guadio, R. P. (1995) Unreal Women and
the Men Who Love Them: Gay Gender Roles in Hausa Society Socialist Rev 25,2:121-36 [110]
Among the Wawihé (Angola) described
by Falk (1925) solitary masturbation is regarded as suspicious, while homosexual
acts occur in both sexes from age 7 to 18. [111] In Kenya: "Certain types of same-sex
activity were tolerated in tribal tradition, but only as childish behaviors
unworthy of an initiate. In tribes where initiation involves long periods of
separation from female contact along with powerful emphasis on male group
bonding (Maasai), situational
homosexuality is not uncommon. When limited to mutual self-pleasuring, it is
regarded as merely unmanly". [112]
Azande (age stratified); also Trobrianders, Samoans [113]
Among the Samburu, heterosexual play
is punished severely, and the sexes are separated early. Homosexual practices
are an every-day occurrence at the cattle posts, and are regarded as normal
(Spencer). [114]
This was, as the authors point out, contested by Sinha (1966:p42) [115]
"Vor allem die Spiele der Jungen untereinander erhalten früh eine erotische
Komponente. Sie beobachten die Neckereien der Männer beim gemeinsamen Baden und
werden von ihren etwas älteren Gefährten zu sexuellen Handlungen angeleitet.
Mit der beginnenden Pubertät kommt es zu emotionellen Beziehungen, die auch
Freunde aus der Nachbarschaft betreffen können und dann oft selbst nach der
Heirat noch andauern. Manchmal münden sie in Freundschaftsbündnissen (siripo'), die die betreffenden uma als ganze einander annähern.
Zärtlichkeit zwischen Gleichgeschlechtlichen gilt bei Jungen und Mädchen als
normal und wird auch in aller Öffentlichkeit zur Schau gestellt. Von
ausschließlicher Homosexualität hatten die Sakuddei jedoch nie etwas gehört.
Sie fanden die Vorstellung nicht unmoralisch, aber absurd. Nur Mann und Frau
zusammen können erzeugen, was man zum Leben braucht" (Schefold, 1988). [116] Sandfort, Th. G. M., & Zessen, G. van (1991) Seks en AIDS in Nederland, The Hague
[Holland]: SDU [117] In a random sample of young adults, considerably
higher levels of bisexuality were found. [118] Moser, Ch. (2001)
Paraphilia: A critique of a confused concept, in Kleinplatz, Peggy, J. (Ed.) New directions in sex therapy: Innovations
and alternatives (p91-108). Philadelphia, PA, US: Brunner-Routledge. See
also Goleman, D. (1991) New view of fantasy: Much is found perverse, New York Times. May 7; 140 (48, 593):B3,
B7; Lothane, Z. (1992) The human dilemma: Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual,
holosexual? Issues in Ego Psychol 15,1:18-32;
Simon, W. (1994) Deviance as history: The future of perversion, Arch Sex Behav 23,1:1-20 [119] Proto-Paraphilia. Author's preliminary surveying. |